Your daughter
by mirdaishan
Summary: Sequel to Your boyfriend. After seeing Greg and Morgan with Ashleigh, Conrad Ecklie gets the wrong idea - he believes that Ashleigh is their daughter. When Morgan invites him for a special Father's Day lunch, he doesn't know whether or not to confront her with what he has seen...


**Hey guys! Since my previous story about Ashleigh was kind of a Mother's Day story, I thought: I might as well do another story about her for Father's Day! If you haven't read it yet, it's called Your boyfriend, just click on my name to go to my profile and you'll be able to find it! :)  
****I hope you guys like what I came up with for this story, of course if you do: just let me know in a review! :)**

_**Your daughter**_

Conrad Ecklie was confused.

There was something on his mind and he wasn't sure whether or not to talk to the people involved in it. He knew he could ask someone for advice on what to do, but the question was who. Plus, talking about it with someone else might get the people involved in trouble… He shook his head. Even thinking about it confused him!

The thing was that he had seen Morgan a few weeks ago. That was nothing unusual, of course, but she hadn't been alone. First of all, Greg had been with her. Again, not something unusual as Conrad knew his daughter liked her co-worker a lot (who didn't know about that?) and he even suspected they were dating. But the real thing that troubled him was that a little girl had been with them.

She had looked really cute in a summery dress with her dark blond hair in a braid down her back, a hair color Conrad recognized – it was almost the same color hair as Greg had. He hadn't gotten too close to the three of them, but even from a distance he had seen the little girl had blue eyes, almost the same color eyes as Morgan had. That was the moment the question had popped into his mind: was it possible that the little girl was their daughter?

He had thought back – the little girl had looked about six years old, so his thoughts had gone back to six years ago. Morgan had been living in LA at the time, they hadn't had any contact. He knew Greg had been working in Vegas at the time, but his parents lived close to LA – it was definitely possible he had met Morgan during one of his trips back home. That possibility caused a lot of new questions to pop into Conrad's head – had they been dating or had it been a one-night stand? Had Greg known Morgan was pregnant? Had they been in touch before they had met up again here in Vegas? Had Greg been the reason Morgan had moved to Vegas when she lost her job in LA? And if Greg had known about his daughter, why hadn't he moved to LA?

The questions were still going through Conrad's mind when his phone rang. He picked it up and saw it was his own daughter calling him.

"Hi, M," he said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Hey, Dad! You busy?"

"No, I was just doing some paperwork," he told her.

"Oh, good, cause I wanna ask you something! Do you happen to have a day off this Sunday?"

"This Sunday? Let me check…" He grabbed his iPad to check his appointments for this weekend. "Yes, I have the entire day to myself for a change!"

He heard his daughter grin. "That's great! How about you spend a small part of your day off with me then? I'd love to take you out for lunch… You know, a father-daughter lunch since it is Father's Day this Sunday…"

He smiled, something Morgan of course couldn't see. "That sounds great!"

"Yeah? Great! I'll make reservations and then I'll let you know when and where, sound okay?"

"Sure," he nodded, another thing Morgan couldn't see.

"Great! See you Sunday!"

"See you Sunday," he repeated before he hung up. He slowly put his phone down. What was he supposed to do now? Confront Morgan with what he had seen or wait for her to start talking about it? He really didn't know…

By the time Father's Day arrived he still didn't know. Morgan, in the meantime, had no idea what was on his mind. She had been working all week, spent time with Greg after her shifts and bought tickets for a new waterpark in Vegas to take Ashleigh to next Sunday. She had explained to the little girl she couldn't come and play with her one time because of Father's Day, something that had been difficult to understand for Ashleigh as she didn't know her own father.

"I wish you were my Mummy and Greg was my Daddy," she had even said. She had held up a Father's Day present she had had to make at school, only it had Greg's name on it. Morgan had immediately called Greg to let him know what the little girl had said and done. Greg had stopped by Ashleigh's house after the call and talked to her about how he and Morgan weren't her parents, but that he still loved to spend with her. Ashleigh had of course been disappointed, but she had smiled bravely and nodded that she understood.

Morgan was still thinking about the little girl when she woke up on Father's Day. She felt so sorry for her: the girl hardly saw her mother, she only seemed to countdown the minutes till she could spend the day with Morgan again. Her wish had hit Morgan hard – she knew the little girl liked hanging out with her, she just hadn't know her feelings were this deep.

She looked up when she felt two hands on her shoulders, slowly running down her back. Smiling, she turned around to kiss Greg.

"What were you thinking about?" he wanted to know.

"Ashleigh."

He lay down next to her, gently moving his fingers up and down her arm. "You really care about her, don't you?"

She weakly smiled at him. "Yeah, I do… I know I've only known her for a few weeks, but she means so much to me! Did you know I almost cried when she told me one of the class bullies had ruined her art project, the one she had worked on every day for two weeks?"

"Yeah, you told me and you almost made me cry as well!" he reminded her. Grinning she rested her head on his chest. "Oh, yeah…"

She felt his fingers moving up to her hair, making her feel slightly dizzy. She always loved it when he did that, just like he loved it when she ran her fingers through his hair.

"If you care so much about her, why don't you try to spend more time with her?"

His suggestion seemed to come from far away as she felt herself dozing off again. She quickly sat up to prevent herself from falling asleep. "How? Sunday is perfect as Ashleigh doesn't have school and we're both usually off. On weekdays she has to go to school, which means that there's hardly any time to hang out before we have to get to work!"

"We could…" Greg stopped talking as he heard the doorbell. Morgan frowned, she wasn't expecting company! She looked at Greg, who was only wearing his boxer shorts.

"I'll get it," she decided with a grin. "Go put on some clothes in case someone comes in!"

She quickly grabbed her robe to cover up the sleeveless shirt and pajama shorts she was wearing before rushing up to the door.

"Ashleigh!" she called out in surprise when she had opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

She looked up at the girl's mother, who had an impatient look on her face as usual.

"Look, I don't have time to wait for you to come and pick her up, here she is!" Ashleigh's mother Marie said, sounding almost angry. Morgan raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me? I told you last week I couldn't spend today with Ashleigh as I have plans with my Dad for Father's Day today."

"I don't care, I can't watch her today, I have to work!" Marie almost shouted. She threw Ashleigh's backpack inside and pushed her daughter forward with so much force the little girl tripped. Morgan was only just able to stop her from falling. When she looked up, Marie had already walked away.

She saw tears appearing in Ashleigh's eyes and she had to fight back her own. How could Ashleigh's mother be so rude towards her daughter?

"Come on, let's get you inside," she softly said to Ashleigh, knowing it was no use to think about Marie any longer. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No…"

Morgan gently wiped away the tear that ran down Ashleigh's cheek. "Don't cry, sweetie, it's fine. We'll figure something out for today, I promise!"

She got up and called out Greg's name.

"Yeah?"

"Ashleigh's here!" she called to him.

"What?"

With a confused look on his face he appeared in the hallway, a pair of jeans on but no shirt yet. Ashleigh giggled. "He was sleeping here!"

Neither Greg nor Morgan responded to the little girl's comment, both thinking about what they could do now.

"I'll… I'll watch her," Greg finally decided. "You can't take her to your Dad, you promised him a special lunch for Father's Day!"

Morgan thought for a moment. "You know… There is a kid's restaurant next to the restaurant I'm taking my Dad to. They have a playground and everything… Why don't you take Ashleigh there? You two can have something to eat together and then play!"

She looked at the little girl. "How does that sound? Do you wanna go on a play lunch date with Greg?"

"A date?" Ashleigh repeated. "Okay, just don't get mad at me, cause he's your boyfriend! You don't go out on dates with my boyfriend either!"

Morgan grinned, knowing Ashleigh was back to her old self again.

"I promise I won't get jealous," she smiled. Ashleigh nodded. "Alright then. But he'll have to put on a shirt, I'm not going out with him looking like this!"

"Agreed!" Morgan nodded with a grin towards Greg.

"I'll put on my most beautiful shirt for you," Greg promised Ashleigh. He looked at Morgan. "I'll hurry, then you can change as well. I doubt you want to meet your Dad wearing that!"

"Eh… no," she grinned. "Thanks, Greg, you're the best!"

An hour later she drove with Greg and Ashleigh to the two restaurants. She helped Ashleigh out of her car and gave the little girl a hug. "Be good, okay? Listen to Greg, do what he tells you to do!"

Ashleigh rolled her eyes. "I always do!"

Morgan smiled at her. "I know, but I'm supposed to say things like this, remember?"

"You sound just like my friend Claire's Mum!" Ashleigh commented. Morgan fell silent. Like Claire's Mum?

"Have fun," Greg interrupted her thoughts. He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and gently squeezed her arm. "Don't worry, just enjoy your lunch!"

She gave him a quick, almost hesitant smile before she walked up to the restaurant where she was meeting her Dad, completely lost in thought. Had she really sounded like a Mum?

"Morgan!"

She looked up, realizing she had almost walked straight past her father. He smiled at her. "Where were you?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking," she apologized before she gave him a hug. "Happy Father's Day!"

"Thank you," he smiled. As they started walking towards their table she suddenly thought of something else. Had he seen her with Greg and Ashleigh? She was sure he knew she and Greg were dating as their entire team knew, but she wasn't sure what he'd think about Ashleigh.

During their lunch she tried not to think about Ashleigh. She happily talked to her father, realizing after a while he was talking about the past a lot. At first she thought it was because they had hardly had any Father's Days together, but then she noticed he mostly talked about six years ago. She thought back, had anything happened six years ago? No, not that she could think off…

When he seemed to realize she knew he was very interested in what she had been doing six years ago he changed the subject of the conversation. This time she was actually started to feel confused. Why was he talking about her Mum all of a sudden? She slowly realized he wasn't so much talking about her Mum, but more asking her to put herself in her mother's shoes… like if she was a mother herself.

"You saw Ashleigh," she finally understood.

"Is that her name? I don't know, but it doesn't matter," her father said with a sigh. "I just don't understand why you never told me!"

Morgan shrugged her shoulders. "It's not that big of a deal!"

"Of course it is!" her father called out to her surprise. "You should have told me! I know we weren't exactly the best of friends all those years ago, but how could you keep something this big from me?"

She frowned. What was he talking about?

"And what about you and Greg? Did you keep in touch all those years? Did he visit you two in LA?" her father continued. "Or didn't you tell him about her until you came back to Vegas? And…"

"Dad, I don't know what you're talking about!" she called out, getting completely lost in all those questions.

"About your daughter!" her father blurted out.

"What? I don't… Oh…" She leaned back in her chair. "Did you think Ashleigh is my daughter? And…"

Her eyes grew larger. "Did you think Greg was her father?"

"Well… yeah," her Dad shyly admitted. Morgan couldn't help but start laughing. "No, Dad, that's not true! Ashleigh isn't our daughter, we're just watching her on Sundays! Do you remember Mum's friend Marie? Ashleigh is her daughter! She just doesn't have any time for her, so Ashleigh has kinda started to see me and Greg as her parents. But she really isn't our daughter!"

She was still laughing, how could her Dad think she and Greg had had a baby years ago? They had never even met until she had moved to Vegas!

"So… I'm not a grandfather?" Conrad finally understood. She shook her head with a smile. "No, I'm sorry, Dad…"

She grinned again. How could her Dad think something like this?

"Come on, I'll pay and then we'll go over to the restaurant next door, you can meet Ashleigh," she smiled. "I still can't believe you thought Ashleigh was mine and Greg's!"

"Well… She looks like both of you," her father said to defend himself. She shrugged her shoulders, it was hard to argue with that. Ashleigh did indeed have Greg's hair color and her eyes kinda looked like her own. But still…

After she had paid she took her Dad over to the other restaurant to meet Ashleigh. They immediately liked each other and with her usual enthusiasm Ashleigh pulled Conrad over to the swings. Morgan told Greg what her father had thought.

"What?" Greg called out. "He thought Ashleigh was our daughter?"

Grinning, she nodded. "Yep!"

"You know…" He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, resting his head on her shoulder as she was standing with her back towards him. "She could be… if we adopt her…"

"What?" She turned around in his arms. He looked at her, a serious look in his eyes. "I was just thinking… Her own mother doesn't have any time for her, it would easy to take away her parental rights by suing her for child neglect. Then we could become Ashleigh's legal guardians… and eventually adopt her…"

"Were you really thinking about that?" She was unable to hide her surprise.

"Yeah… Of course I'm not talking about adopting her tomorrow or next week, but if Marie really keeps treating Ashleigh like this I'm all for taking this to court," Greg said. "And if you think about it, you know you'd love to do the same!"

He was right – she would love to make Ashleigh part of her own family. But she had only known the girl for a few weeks, she and Greg had only been dating since then as well…

"Just think about it, okay? We don't have to decide right away," Greg softly said. She nodded, that was probably the best idea right now, even though she already knew deep down inside what her decision would be.

"Let's just… keep this from my Dad, okay?" she then said. "I don't think he could handle news like this right now!"

Greg grinned at her. "Yeah, that seems like a good idea! Although I have a feeling he'd love being a grandfather to Ashleigh!"

He nodded with his head towards them. Morgan smiled as she watched her Dad push Ashleigh on the swing. She knew they had been fighting a lot when she grew up, but she remembered him being a great Dad when she was little. She carefully left Greg's arms and walked up to her Dad. Spontaneously she gave him a hug. "I love you, Dad!"

He smiled at her. "I love you too, M!"

"Wait for me, I want a hug too!" Ashleigh jumped off the swing, grabbed Greg's hand and pulled him over for the hug. Smiling, Morgan wrapped her arms around both of them, looking up at Greg. He smiled back at her when he saw the look in her eyes. He already knew what her decision about Ashleigh was.


End file.
